Ah Friday once more. You all know the drill by now, but I’ll refresh your memory just in case. Friday Fictioneer’s is hosted by our own gracious and pixie like Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, close to 100 writers from all genres write a flash fiction piece based from the same photograph. You’ll find anything and everything under the sun and moon story wise. It makes for fascinating reading. Just click on Rochelle’s name and be whisked off for a magic carpet ride. Scroll down her page and click on the little blue guy to find all those other great stories. Don’t forget to read Rochelle’s great little ET’ish story too! Thanks all!
THE CHALLENGE:
Write a one hundred word story that has a beginning, middle and an end. (No one will be ostracized for going a few words over the count.)
THE KEY:
Make every word count.
Genre: Literary Fiction (100 words)
He jumped down from the half boarded window. Dust swirled upward, tickling his nose. As he held back a sneeze his eyes adjusted to the shadows.
Listening, he glanced upward, the silence was broken by a soft coo from the nesting pigeons in the rafters. Dinner tonight, he knew.
He walked over to a darker corner where a pallet of blankets lay on the floor. Crouching beside it he turned over the woman lying there.
Slowly her eyes opened, “Did you find her?”
“She’ll be here shortly.”
Nodding the woman put her hands on her swollen stomach, “Just in time I think.”
Life, Love & Strength 
Oh! Something’s coming!!
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Yes it is, but what??
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Well, it’s Christmas time – so maybe the guy who comes in isn’t the actual father?
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See there, we should collaborate and make a bigger story! 🙂
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You know, this really does have that feel of the start of a big story. Well done.
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Thanks so much kind sir!
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Ohhhh! Sounds like someone is having a hard time of it. Hope there will be a happy ending.
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Never know with me! 🙂 Thanks for readng!
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Pigeon for dinner! Yum, Jackie. This is bleak, but also has a sinister quality. We can’t assume it’s a normal birth in this situation. Nicely done!
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Well if you can’t decide then I did something right! That’s what I was trying for, so thank you Amy.
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Well, thank goodness he went to get the midwife! 🙂
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Ah yes but what kind of midwife will she be? I do love leaving people guessing. 🙂 Did you get your computer fixed??
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I’m hoping it’s a mother looking to adopt their child and give him/her a better life. If that person happened to drop some cash on the mother and father so they could improve their lives in the process, well, I wouldn’t complain 😉 Intriguing story!
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Well this one could go so many ways, but I like your thinking. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and reading!
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Dear Jackie,
This has the feel of the beginning of a Christmas special…or something else. Left me hanging…good one.
shalom,
Rochelle
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I think this one could go either way Rochelle, good or bad, I vote for good. Thank you for reading and commenting.
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There are so many possible back stories and equally, forward stories with this one. Which means we can make our own. I wonder how many happy endings there’d be? For me, it would be one which saved that pigeon with its own nest of eggs about to hatch. There’s a parallel there, isn’t there? Of course there is, because I will write it so! And in it, the pigeon will turn out to be a dove, a white one. 🙂
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There you go Ann! I’m a sucker for happy endings. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
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Happy endings – you have to get them where you can! 🙂
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Oh my…
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Oh yes, could go so many ways.
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As this is a FF story, I expect the worst (“Alien”, maybe??) but since it’s Christmas, who knows? 🙂 Wonderfully ambiguous, Jackie.
janet
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Thank you Janet. I wanted people to have their own idea on what was happening. I think I did that. 🙂
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